The critical performance factor for adsorbent materials is the rate at which they remove a contaminant and in many applications this can only be achieved by using very small particles (powder). C-Tex is composed of fibres which are <10μm in diameter, much smaller than powder grade activated carbons. The result is adsorption rates which can be 50 times faster than conventional materials.

The high adsorption rates mean that less C-Tex carbon cloth is required compared to conventional activated carbons to achieve equal or greater performance before breakthrough occurs – this is illustrated below, where C-Tex is compared with a premium grade granular activated carbon used in personal protection equipment. Although there is 50% more GAC it can be seen that C-Tex has nearly three times the breakthrough time.

The minimisation of kinetic effects is a key feature of the properties of C-Tex and ensures a very high efficiency of contaminant removal until breakthrough; in other words, the textile will operate at 100% efficiency until the full capacity is reached. The textile form of C-Tex eliminates bed by-pass due to settling or non-uniform packing.

It must be noted that total capacity is not a good indication of performance in a particular application; the critical factor is time to breakthrough under appropriate test criteria. MAST Carbon has expertise in measuring and modelling this process and actively works with customers to deliver appropriate products.